Las Vegas based Adelitas Way is in support of last year’s Stuck (Virgin Records) and recent EP, Deserve This, with a full-length follow up, expected later this year.
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Though it’s been a bitingly cold winter, the Minneapolis/St. Paul area is experiencing a season with less than half the average snowfall (thank you to Boston for taking all of it). Regardless, the SnoCore Tour featuring Flyleaf and Adelitas Way is on the road this winter, providing a reason to get out of the cold, beat the winter blues, and experience an evening of live rock n’ roll.

With less competition for your entertainment dollar because of fewer bands touring in Jan/Feb, and a great bang-for-your-concert-buck (less than $20 for five bands over almost five hours), the SnoCore Tour brought out a healthy-sized midweek crowd out, to POV’s in suburban Spring Lake Park, MN.

Arson River, a new-ish local band, opened the evening with a short set full of driving aggro-rock and songs culled from its 2014 self-released debut, Any Given Day. Songs like ‘Chemicals and ‘Wrong’ would fit nicely in a playlist alongside tracks from Seether, Breaking Benjamin, and Nonpoint.

Jacksonville, FL up-and-comers Fit for Rivals played next, showcasing songs from their 2009 debut, along with previewing those from their upcoming Freak Machine (Big 3 Records), including the title track and ‘Hit Me’. Vocalist Renee Phoenix is small but has a powerfully large voice and the band’s sound is hard rock based, with touches of punk-pop.

Framing Hanley

Nashville’s Framing Hanley followed, promoting last year’s third full-length, The Sum of Who We Are (Imagen Records) and a sound similar to some of their previous touring mates, Sick Puppies and Saving Abel.

Vocalist Kenneth Nixon endeared himself to the crowd of young girls near the front barriers, wearing a plain hoodie, often standing on the speakers and singing/shouting a la Linkin Park’s Chester Bennington. They were grateful both to local rock radio for playing single, ‘Collide’ as well as to the fervent fans that turned up early to see them.

Adelitas Way

Las Vegas band Adelitas Way was one that many in the crowd were highly anticipating to see. The four-piece roared on stage with intro song, ‘The Collapse’ and raging ‘Dog on a Leash’ that had many in the crowd jumping in place with devil-horn hands raised. The band has just released a new EP, Deserve This (CMG), which was available in part digitally, via download cards at the merch booth, with full tracks due out March 7th.

Last year’s full-length Stuck (produced by Nick Raskulinecz, who has helmed countless hard rock albums) was a breakthrough for the band, with its classic-based aggressive sound, that has found a home on rock radio. Singer Rick DeJesus connected well with the audience, who moved and swayed as one, especially to late in the set songs, ‘Criticize’ and ‘Sick’, both of which topped the Active Rock charts. The band mentioned they’d likely be back in June for anyone wanting to see them headline.

Texas band Flyleaf closed the evening and is in the midst of re-inventing itself as a new, but veteran and seasoned group. Original vocalist Lacey Sturm decided to leave in 2012, choosing family and faith over the rigors of a touring band, and the group wisely recruited Blue Springs, MO native Kristen May (of KC band Vedera) as her replacement.

May’s soaring vocals prove the band has not lost a step in terms of intensity and range, as evidenced on their newest album, Between the Stars (Loud & Proud Records), and more so, in concert.

Flyleaf

VIP ticket holders were granted early access into the venue, which included a short acoustic set (complete w/ Smashing Pumpkins cover song), and meet and greet/ photo op. In another bit of inspired marketing, anyone buying a Flyleaf scarf at the merch booth was allowed on stage for a couple songs mid-set, to show them off and dance with their favorite band.

The new album was well represented, with eight of its twelve tracks getting the live treatment, including opener, ‘Set Me on Fire. Bassist Pat Seals was a restless beast on stage, often jumping on front speakers and playing within easy reach of the loyal crowd.

Guitarist Sameer Bhattacharya mostly stayed contently in his corner, but grabbed the spotlight with an impressive violin bow solo during their cover of ‘Oceans’, an upbeat anthem that stays true to the band’s Christian roots.

Fans predictably responded more to radio hits like ‘Fully Alive’ but were also moved on songs like ‘Great Love’ that found May leaving the stage to sing the song filing through the crowd, giving hugs and high-fives.

No separate encore was done, with the band staying out for the two last songs, the new ‘Sober Serenade’ and biggest song to-date, ‘I’m So Sick’, which prompted a brief mosh-pit in the center of the crowd.

Five hours with five bands for a few five dollar bills? – what’s not to love?! The SnoCore Tour bravely soldiers on, though sleet and snow, to continue to fly the hard rock flag, until warmer weather pushes the cold winter temps away.

Leonard Nimoy, best known for playing the role of Spock in the "Star Trek" movies and television series has died at age 83, his rep confirmed to FOX411.

Nimoy was taken to the hospital earlier this week and treated for lung disease. His son told the Associated Press he died in Los Angeles.

The actor wrote on Twitter last month that he suffered from chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, despite quitting smoking 30 years ago.

A life is like a garden. Perfect moments can be had, but not preserved, except in memory. LLAP

— Leonard Nimoy (@TheRealNimoy) February 23, 2015

Although Leonard Nimoy followed his 1966-69 "Star Trek" run with a notable career as both an actor and director, in the public's mind he would always be Spock. His half-human, half-Vulcan character was the calm counterpoint to William Shatner's often-emotional Captain Kirk on one of television and film's most revered cult series.

London-based four-piece Wolf Alice will release their debut album My Love Is Cool on June 23rd via Dirty Hit / RCA Records. They actually did not include the cover artwork, but they did preview a track called "Giant Peach" from the forthcoming album for us. You can hear the song on soundcloud.com.

We've been following this band for a while now, and am pleased to see that they will be making their debut SXSW this upcoming March. With these typical SXSW appearance, they will also do a small number of promotional dates.

The Belfast band Go Wolf will be playing SXSW 2015 this year in Austin, Texas (along with the over 2,000 other bands!)

Look for their upcoming EP Running on Ooh La La Records, this March 17th. However, if you live in Belfast, you can grab the EP at their launch party at The Menagerie, this March 6th, courtesy of Old Fang.

Dallas' Color Therapy will be releasing Mr Wolf Is Dead this March 24th, 2015.

Here are the details about the album:

On the upcoming album Mr. Wolf Is Dead out March 24th, additional guests include The Album Leaf, Helios, Hammock, and these collaborations follow Color Therapy's remixes for the likes of Mogwai, Nils Frahm, and Peter Broderick. Dntel aka Jimmy Tamborello recently remixed "Screw Eyes," with additional remixes en route from Brooklyn-based duo Prism House and ambient band Hammock.

Color Therapy noted, “They're like pop songs from another life that have had the vocals surgically removed and then left out in the rain to become warped and distorted and ruined.”

Back in December 2014, we tipped you guys off this new British sensation Catfish and the Bottlemen with their album The Balcony. It's only been a few months, but the band has exploded, well on their way of selling out their entire 2015 US tour! …

Let's talk about their opening band: Texas indie-rockers Wild Party, who touring in support of their debut album Phantom Pop, out now on Old Friend Records.
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Their landmark album, Cracked Rear View is the 16th best-selling album, anchored by singles ‘Hold My Hand’ and ‘Only Wanna Be with You’… and … err, waitaminute… This isn’t them. This isn’t about Hootie and the Blowfish, or the past. This is about the future- this is about Catfish and the Bottlemen.

The North Wales foursome that showed up for a roaring 55 min. set at the 7th Street Entry in Minneapolis, represents the future of British indie rock, and the receptive audience that was there to witness, clearly felt the same way.

Wild Party

The evening began with a set by San Antonio, TX originating band Wild Party, who threw down an entertaining 40 min. of indie power pop. Their debut full-length, Phantom Pop (Old Friends Records), was slightly reworked from an earlier release and came out last October, though many of the songs, including initial single ‘When I Get Older’, date back four years prior.

Current single ‘OutRight’ was well received with Kreifels moving from left to right across the small stage, engaging with the audience. Though not the wild party performance you may think of with confetti, balloons, and streamers, the Texas four-piece does deliver entertaining enough indie pop to keep them on your radar for future happenings.

After a brief intermission, lights dimmed and stayed dark for all of the set (which challenged anyone photographing), except for a few turned down red spotlights, as Catfish and the Bottlemen took to the stage.

cut-out stage setup

The foursome (Ryan "Van" McCann; Johnny “Bondy” Bond; Benji Blakeway; “Sideshow” Bob Hall) have a somewhat post-adolescent cheeky humor to their demeanor (witness the laughing Ewan McGregor faces on their amps, Outkast intro music, a lifesize cut-out of the mutually satisfying album cover, and Gary Glitter adorning their setlist) but seem all business when playing their brand of catchy indie UK garage rock.

The lighting quick drums and throbbing bass intro of ‘Rango’ got things going, with its Johnny Marr-esque guitar immediately getting parts of the floor of the small venue jumping. Their debut full-length, The Balcony (on the Mumford and Sons-shepherded Communion Records label) just came out stateside in January, but many in the crowd, seemed to already know all of the lyrics.

“Thank you for selling this place out, it took us seven years to fill a place like this in England” singer McCann noted after ‘Sidewinder’. The band had played in town to a smaller handful last June with only their Kathleen and the Other Three ep out, but have since blown up, most notably taking the best new artist BBC Introducing trophy at December’s inaugural BBC Music Awards.

Shouts to buy McCann a drink were rebuffed as he replied wanting to preserve his voice after a rough couple shows. A seething ‘26’ followed, with McCann’s vocals at the forefront behind the chugging backbeat of Hall and Blakeway and we understood his reasoning for turning down a shot.

Biggest song to date, ‘Kathleen’ was played mid-set, with McCann giving appreciation to radio stations that have played the single, getting the band more noticed in America.

Beginning song of the album, ‘Homesick’ would follow with the group likely not feeling that way, as the 250 strong crowd shouted the chorus back at them in tandem, to the chagrin of a smiling McCann. A gentle ‘Hourglass’ was next, with the other three exiting the stage to leave only McCann and his acoustic guitar to serenade us.

Setlist

“I’m lovin’ this!” McCann beamed as the band turned back up and on, for a driving ‘Cocoon’, which nonchalantly mixed in a verse from Bruce Springsteen’s ‘Dancing in the Dark’ at the end.

“We wish we had more, we’ve had a proper good time” and “…we’ve got no encore” teasing they have their 2nd album ready but not ready to play, and the four-piece finished the evening with the sprawling ‘Tyrants’, which cinematically takes its time building and has the largest scope of any of their songs.

Singer McCann has openly stated he was born via IVF treatments, i.e. through In vitro fertilization or as a “test tube baby” wherein the fertilization takes place outside of the body, making him the first singer (that I know of) to be of such origin. This is the future. And with Catfish and the Bottlemen, McCann and mates are sonically charting the future as well.

The first time I heard of The Dodos in 2010, we called them band of the show. I eventually caught them in 2011, when they toured with Bleeding Rainbow (but back then they were called Reading Rainbow)
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As long as I can remember, Hatfield started her music career with the Blake Babies. When they broke up, she had a massive hit with "My Sister" in her newly reformed band Juliana Hatfield Three
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JULIANA HATFIELD THREE
at Turf Club
Sunday 03/08/15, 7pm ($20)turfclub.net

We are very excited about this upcoming Juliana Hatfield Three show at the Turf Club on March 8th. The band (all original members) have released Whatever, My Love and currently touring in support of the new record.

In 1994, like a million other music fans, I got caught up in the urgent rock and roll York, Pennsylvania quartet Live and their breakout album Throwing Copper. After releasing 1991’s Mental Jewelry, the young band hooked up with former Talking Head Jerry Harrison and holed up at the legendary Pachyderm Studio in Cannon Falls, Minnesota to record what would be the most successful album of the band’s career. The album was hard and heavy, but plenty melodic, boasting modern rock singles like “I Alone,” “Selling the Drama,” and the gigantic “Lightning Crashes,” a song that came to symbolize everything Live stood for: music that you could mosh and contemplate the universe to.

At the center of it all, of course, was lead singer Ed Kowalczyk and his powerhouse vocals. At his quietest, Kowalczyk could summon the kind of gentleness reserved for Michael Stipe, and at his loudest, fill an arena better than Bono. On top of recording five more Live albums, Kowalczyk also ventured solo with Alive (2010), The Garden (2012) and The Flood and the Mercy (2013).

Sadly, Kowalczyk would exit the group amidst inter-band turmoil and 2010 saw the three other members filing a lawsuit against their former lead singer over a sour publishing deal. Despite the acrimonious split, Kowalczyk has continued making new music and touring, including this years acoustic tour in honor of Throwing Copper’s 20th anniversary. I imagine it must be a bittersweet time for Kowalczyk, but from the looks of his Facebook and Instagram, he’s enjoying being on the road, reconnecting with fans new and old. I’m really curious about how he’ll arrange some of Throwing Copper’s faster, wilder songs like “Stage” or “White, Discussion.” And I hope he doesn’t mind people singing along… ‘cause I still know every word to this album. One thing I’m certain of: hearing “Horse” will bring more than a few tears to my eyes.

The first leg of the Throwing Copper Unplugged tour kicked off earlier this month with Mr. Kowalczyk stopping by the Cedar Cultural Center on March 2nd.

The funk duo Tuxedo (Mayer Hawthorne and Jake One) is releasing their self-titled debut release via
Stones Throw Records... the duo is throwing their record release party on March 4th at The Regent Theater in Downtown Los Angeles, featuring live DJ sets from Dam-Funk and Peanut Butter Wolf. The show is sold out.

Here is how they described Tuxedo:

The two Grammy-nominated artists have teamed up to release their debut 12-track album Tuxedo (Stones Throw Records) on March 3, 2015. Mayer Hawthorne and Jake One they are descendants of the one- word moniker family of funk, where you will find groups such as Chic, Shalamar, Plush & Zapp. The Tuxedo collaboration began with an exchange of mixtapes back in 2006. The fruits of a long-standing kinship were three tracks that mysteriously showed up on Internet doorsteps nearly two years ago. In between personal projects, these three tracks became a full album s worth of Tuxedo. The album was mixed by original disco don dada John Morales at his home studio in South Plainfield, New Jersey. I flew out there, Mayer says. His wife made me spaghetti and everything.

The duo is excited to release the upcoming album on Stones Throw Records, which also marks Mayer's return to the label since his debut release of A Strange Arrangement in 2009.

Regent Theater (Sold Out)

Tuxedo is wrapping up their European shows this month... but stay tuned for North American dates in 2015.

Chicago's Dowsing and Nashville's Free Throw are both touring together, starting next week.

Dowsing are out in support of their 2013 debut LP, I Don't Even Care Anymore and Free Throw are out in support of their 2014 debut LP, Those Days Are Gone... both available on Count Your Lucky Stars Records.

Monday, 23 February 2015

Along their way to Minneapolis, Temples have been building huge buzz appearing at Great Escape 2013 and (recently) SXSW 2014. With all that excitement for the band, they sold out the Turf Club presale
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One of the hottest bands of last year, Temples will be returning to Minneapolis' First Avenue this May 29, 2015. You may recall that they originally booked the Turf Club show in 2014 but quickly sold out the venue that they had to upgrade to First Avenue's Main Room to accommodate all their fans.

Britain's best loved rock 'n' roll band, The Temperance Movement, have announced an exclusive vinyl to celebrate this year's Record Store Day in the UK, paying tribute to two legendary British acts.
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Blackberry Smoke announced their DVD called Live at the Georgia Theatre (pre-sale started November 23rd, to ship December 6, just in time for Christmas). The show was originally sold out, so if you're a fan, this will be a good way of checking
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British blues rock band The Temperance Movement (named after the 19th century social movement urging us to moderate our alcoholic consumptions) will be touring with Blackberry Smoke and Ben Miller Band in America for 2015. They are supporting their new self-titled record, out now on Earache Records/Fantasy.

This is The Books' last date on their national tour, so they seem very comfortable being on stage. Since this was the Cedar Cultural Center, the audience consists of an older "NPR"-type of crowd. This was one of the most
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Temporary Residence Ltd will be releasing Paul de Jong's If this April 28th, 2015. If you're a fan of The Books (read our previous coverage from 2009), you may know de Jong as the co-founder of the band.

"For the past year, I’ve been happily chasing utopian musical concepts in the good company of my family, a drumming farmer and his musician friends, an array of traditional and makeshift instruments and my sample library that has by now taken on the characteristics of a vast sunken continent," de Jong describes. "It’s time to come up for air."

If will feature de Jong's handful of friends and family as musical guests, and in typical The Books fashion, will fused eccentric folk-pop with art.

Romania's Temple Invisible will be releasing Enter_ in early 2015. The EP have been getting rave reviews, comparing their sound to Depeche Mode and Massive Attack. You can read all about it on news.weheartmusic.com.

London duo Suns (not to be confused with Chicago's Suns or Ohio's The Sun or UK tabloid The Sun... in fact, read more Here Comes the Sun and The Sun) will be releasing a new single "Temple Boy", out February 23rd via Taiyō Records.

They have also announced a live show at London's Sebright Arms on February 24th.

The current incarnation of Bob Marley’s famous backing band (the Wailers) hits the First Avenue Mainroom stage to play reggae classics from the greatest hits album, Legend (Island Records) in its entirety.
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The Tall Pines At Highline Ballroom With The Sharp Things New York, New York
The Tall Pines Record Release Party with Laura Cantrell and Joe McGinty
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THE CHURCH
at Cedar Cultural Center
Thursday 03/05/15, 7pm ($30)thecedar.org

Legendary Australian band The Church will be in Minneapolis this Thursday, March 5th at the Cedar Cultural Center.

We previously mentioned, The Church's latest album is called Further/Deeper, which came out earlier this month, February 3rd via +180 Records. Prior to this, I reviewedUntitled #23 (their 23rd album released in 2009).

The Sydney-based band will be in America to do a promotional tour for the new record.

NYC-based collective The Sharp Things (who previously played some gigs with one of my favorite bands The Tall Pines) will open the Church show; they're touring in support of Adventurer's Inn, which came out last year via Dive Records.

The Parkway Theater is a movie theater, but they also book musical acts as well. Since it's seated, I suggest you show up early to grab a closer seat. Note: the front row are reserved at a higher price.

Sean Watkins of Nickel Creek will be playing in Minneapolis on March 6th.
Although it's not listed officially, I think his sister Sara Watkins may be at this show?

Saturday, 21 February 2015

Our friends Fuzzy Machete are celebrating their album release party for Number One Fan at the Cabooze this February 26th, 2015.
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Number One Fan is the debut album from Minneapolis' Fuzzy Machete. Tara and Krissandra stopped in W♥M Radio to talk about album and their upcoming CD release party, set for next Thursday, February 26th.